No John John Florence, no Gabriel Medina, no Stephanie Gilmore but yes Kelly Slater!
To the surprise of no one, John John Florence and Stephanie Gilmore have joined Gabriel Medina on the sidelines for the 2025 season.
John John, who turns thirty-three this year, had been laying a trail of crumbs for months, telling Jamie O’Brien and Mason Ho a few weeks back that his biz Florence Marine X would be better served if he travelled instead of competed.
Stephanie Gilmore, thirty-seven, saw the graffiti all over the wall last year, took a sabbatical, then saw Caity Simmers’ new edit on BeachGrit yesterday and went, ooowee, I’m out for 2025, too.
In a press release so bloodless and mired in PR speak even an AI bot wouldn’t take credit for it Gilmore said,
“This time will allow me to focus on healing from some lingering injuries and redirect my energy toward continuing my adventures of surfing around the globe. I’m deeply grateful for the unwavering support of my sponsors, and I wish all the athletes on tour the best of luck this season!”
The triple world champ Gabriel Medina, as you know, busted a titty in a wipeout at a Sao Paulo beach break, went under the knife and may, or may not, be back in time for a cameo at Teahupoo in August.
The dramatic departures of the sport’s three biggest stars will diminish further an already diminished interest in the sport.
Unless?
Unless.
Kelly Slater, who is a couple of weeks short of fifty-three, has shucked retirement for the twenty-sixth consecutive year and scooped up a wildcard into the Lexus Pipe Pro, which begins shortly.
Given he waltzed through the pack two years ago, rimming Backdoor for nines to win an unlikely 56th grand slam, what chance do you give that Slater wins, or comes close, commits to one more season on tour, finishes top five and holds that crown aloft in Fiji?
Unlikely, yeah, but the possibility would make the tour a little more interesting.
Or maybe tragic as the old man carts his rusted frame from Abu Dhabi to Tahiti.
Where do you sit? A slow moving tragedy or a fizzing inspiration?
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A slow moving inspiration…that’s tragically fizzling.
he’s 56 he’s an old cunt and he won’t win nuffin
and Belly can fuck off too
Well, one things for certain, Beach Grit’s cheese has officially been moved.
The Grandmaster will continue to sit in his chair in the east of the lodge. Forever and ever amen. They come and they go. Not me.
Only if he surfs nude and spits the winkle at joe during an interview
In your interview with the Swellian you mentioned Kelly being pretty legendary at the live Ain’t That Swell tapings of the past, so I listened to the most recent one this morn.
Thanks for the recco, DR. The whole Beerfarm vibe was fairly entertaining, especially some guy asking a question at the end and nobody paying attention to the question but instead concentrating on how soused the guy was. Media gold.
He’s almost 53.
Anyone who isn’t at least in the mid forties has no ideia how hard it is to surf at his current level with that age. The fact that he still puts up a fight and occasionally wins against top surfers with less than half is age is amazing.
What about the local Hawaiian talent pool watching Slater just snag another wild card cause he feels like a few uncrowded minutes at pipe.Move on Kelly you are done brah.. it’s bullshit if he keeps not thinking of taking opportunities from the locals.Slater cannot do a head stand in a backdoor tube and save surfing …..move on peepal.
WSL contests are a separate beast to the rest of the surf world.
Hawaiians have the Da Hui and Volcom contests to show off their outrageous skills.
As far as I know they still have wildcards for locals and including Slater doesn’t change that. If he wasn’t there the spot would go to another industry guy.
Two separate things.
It’s like watching Axle Rose squeeze into leather pants and sing at this point….at least it’s free to watch….
https://uploads.disquscdn.c… This hasn’t aged well……
Note to fans: When surfers don’t confirm they are surfing next year, they will not be surfing next year.
The art of dragging the fans along to uphold relevance and followers.
Kelly will do Pipe and Chopes as a wildcard and probs Slavepool. Otherwise baby hooky tour. Bring on Mateus Herdy and Al Cleland, Fk it
Pipe, Chopes, Slavepool, Snapper and J-Bay is my call.- thats pretty much the tour.
Pulling for Yago and the Mexican.!
I bet Jrobbo is excited , if he can’t win a title in this crowd he never will.
Sl8r vs Jrob heat 4 opening round
No chance of a World Title for Ke11y – that is a joke. He’s FIFTY-THREE years old, FFS.
The absence of former top competitive surfers like Florence, Medina and Gilmore due to indifference, injury or fear simply creates an opportunity for younger surfers, both male and female to STEP IT UP and grab what is now theirs for the taking.
Pro surfing will be all the better for new talent to take their rightful and deserved place at the top.
It’s not that absurd,just got to make the top 5 then cloudbreak.
Yeah, it ain’t that far fetched. Wins Pipe, podiums at Margs and J-Bay, gets through a few heats in the other comps, wins Tahiti.
Yip, If the old man wrangles his way to pumping 8ft Cloudbreak on finals day. I wouldn’t bet against him.
Would be the greatest story in sports history if a fifty-three year old man can win a world sufing title – that’s why it ain’t gonna happen.
A 12th world title for Ke11y is in the realm of absurdist fantasy.
It is a difficult to clarify statement on the condition the WSL is in.
Some knowledgeable writer a few months , maybe more , wrote KS was rarely advancing out if the earliest rounds.
Cannot cut it.
No surprise,age , injuries etc so older surfers develop a new content to supply to keep them interesting to viewers.
Better to get Raimana along to help the guy get up and then yell at him, telling him how to surf.
2 icons helping one!
Kudos to Kelly for being radical at that age (by the way i think hes not 53 until Feb).
He is so far behind now it’s getting embarrassing. For years he’s been riding the wrong boards and has to overpower them to try to be radical. But more often than not results in a spaz out and he limps out of the draw with two 5s.
Should have retired after that pipe win (which he was so lucky to get out of the third round). But no, had to try to get in the olympics. They even tried to parachute hom in with that ever so convenient teahupoo clause but he fucked that up too.
Dude take your West Aussie hat off.
Kelly hates Margaret River more than he hates Bells. He has never done well there.
Unless you’re talking about Jack?
“just got to make the top 5”
😂
Oh yes… because he’s been SO close, so many times in the last five years. 🙄
It’s absolutely absurd to think he has a chance at another World Title.
The be cut has extended from 5 to 7 events and without John and Gabby every lower tiered Surfer on tour off the back of those two reasons have a far easier pathway to finals day. Rookies historically don’t do well either and there is a lot of them. Anyways he’s not on tour, so yeah.
Oh god, Kelly could actually (sadly) be starting to lick his chops, too ..
So true about Steph watching Blouse yesterday..
What ever gets him away from his obviously brattish child and recovering girlfriend!
Xox
100% Been a gypsy his entire life……been an absent parent =part of the equation.
Asterisk title not a true 12th
Fuck it. He may as well hire Ross as his coach, Rob to practice high fives with, Peter King to massage his nuts, Taj so someone will always come in behind him, and then Kalani Robb to cuck the other Kalani in his life and while Kelly is skipping Rio again The Kalanis can finally name Kelly’s kid.
In good form, DH.
(not an emdorsement) NO SPA!M
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
What about Kailani Kai??
She’s 54. Could come in handy….a friend told me https://uploads.disquscdn.c…